It is possible to take a poor man`s high seas cruise from Chicago over the weekend for $100.
Take the children for only $15 each. (No charge if they`re under 5.)
Well, it`s not quite an ocean cruise, but it`s close.
It is a four-hour journey, half of which is out of sight of land aboard one of the few surviving coal-fired steamships in the world.
Charles F. Conrad, a retired Holland, Mich., industrialist last year bought the three surviving railroad car ferries and has converted one, the S.S. Badger, into a cruise ship that plies Lake Michigan once a day between Ludington, Mich., and Manitowoc, Wis., through Oct. 12. (Starting Sept. 17, there will be no departures on Tuesday and Wednesday. There also is no service Sept. 15-16.)
The word ferry is misleading. This is not one of those commuter boats that plies New York harbor between Staten Island and the Battery Park, or a self-propelled barge that hauls railroad cars up and down a coastal waterway. The Badger is a 410-foot, 4,200-ton steel steamship built in 1952 for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad to batter its way across upper Lake Michigan with loads of railroad cars in the worst of weather. Although the upper decks were equipped with staterooms and lounges, anyone who rode the Badger when the C&O operated it realized that passengers were incidental-added revenue to supplement the freight.
The first thing Conrad did when he acquired the three ships was to scrap the railroad fittings. The tracks were ripped out, the sailing season was shortened and he spent $1 million converting the Badger into what is essentially a cruise ship with room below decks for the passengers` cars.
Amenities added
He added a game room for the children, a movie theater, a gift shop, small maritime museum, lounges and two restaurants-a fast-food outlet for children below and a buffet for adults on the upper deck. There are deck chairs in the open on the foredeck and an enclosed seating area at the stern in case the weather gets windy and chilly. The 42 staterooms are available for $20 per room above the price of the transportation.
”I wanted to get away from the idea of a railroad ferry,” Conrad said.
”We wanted it to be family fun. We wanted it to be a destination mini-cruise.”
The concept of the mini-cruise has proved so successful, even though the revamped Badger did not resume operation until mid-May, that many sailings in July and August were booked solid. So Conrad has extended the season until Oct. 12. It originally was planned to end Sept. 15.
Smooth sailing
The ship holds 120 cars and 600 passengers. It`s large enough to cruise smoothly in all but the heaviest seas.
There is no swimming pool, but the weather at the northern end of Lake Michigan is a little cool for that anyway. That means it is wise to take a sweater and jacket along in a handbag, just in case. (Passengers don`t have access to their cars once the loading starts.)
Knowledgeable passengers arrive as much as an hour early so they can watch the big ship manuever into the dock. The Badger loads from the stern, so once it pulls into Ludington`s little harbor, it must turn around, drop its anchor, then back slowly into the dock, dragging the anchor behind it.
Almost everyone on board hangs over the rail to watch as the Badger pulls away from the dock and heads back out to sea. Then it`s a leisurely stroll around the ship, a drink perhaps or a visit to the on-board attractions.
Some passengers use the stroll, which is almost a fifth of a mile from stem to stern and back, to work up an appetite. Others sit on deck and read, take in the sun`s rays or watch programs on the ship`s closed circuit TV system.
An individual bottle of wine like those the airlines serve runs $3. So do mixed drinks.
Food runs the gamut from $1.50 for a hot dog to $10 for a pizza in the food court on the main passenger deck. Salads are available.
The buffet on the upper passenger deck is essentially adult fare. For $8.50 ($5 for children), passengers can stuff themselves with two entrees, such as seafood crepes or breast of chicken, with vegetables, potatoes, bread and soup. The food, though tasty, isn`t four-star, but neither are the prices. The accent is on families, not accents.
Reviving lake traffic
Which brings up the unique nature of the Badger. Conrad, in the opinion of several experts on the lakes, is taking an important first step toward reviving the passenger trade on the Great Lakes. There was a time, early in this century, when as many as 20 lake liners could be seen lined up along Navy Pier to load passengers for excursions to everywhere from Michigan City to Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Chicago`s Goodrich line, between the 1850s and 1932, operated an extensive fleet of passenger excursion vessels.
Although such sailing steamers as the Great Western and Empire State in the 19th Century gained fame for their luxurious appointments, few ships could rival the Seeandbee. The 500-foot-long sidewheeler, built in 1912, steamed as late as 1941 from Navy Pier on seven-day lake cruises promising service and facilities as opulent as anything found on an ocean liner: staterooms, an atrium, a 400-foot-long salon, on-board bakery, three restaurants and live entertainment. Alas, the Seeandbee was bought by the Navy in World War II and used as a training aircraft carrier on the Great Lakes.
Several factors combined to kill off those excursion steamers on the lakes-disasters such as the sinking of the Eastland, in which 835 died when that overloaded excursion boat overturned in the Chicago River in 1915. The automobile also cut into lake traffic. The Depression and World War II finished off most of the rest
At a time when building a new ship such as the Badger, built in 1952 for $5 million, would cost an estimated $40 million today, the only hope for lake excursion service may be projects such as Conrad`s. He paid $750,000 for the three old car ferries tied up in a bankruptcy proceeding, and he hopes to rehabilitate them, one by one, as the fun of lake excursion cruises is rediscovered by a public growing weary of interstate highways.
As a weekend excursion, the Badger does not require an onerous drive. It is four to five hours from Chicago to Manitowoc.The drive from Chicago to Ludington takes six to seven hours but offers pleasant respites in places such as Holland and Saugatuck, Mich.
For a pleasant three-day trip, plan on an overnight on either side of the lake to ease the driving ordeal and make time to enjoy the sights along the way. –
